The NIU football team dominated the second half defensively, forcing interceptions on three straight Ohio drives to come back for a 23-13 win over the Bobcats on Saturday.

The win against the Bobcats (5-2, 2-1) snapped a seven-game home losing streak for the Huskies (3-4, 2-1) and was their first win at Huskie Stadium against an FBS team since a 30-29 win against Ball State on Nov. 10, 2021. Nov. 10-17, 2021 is also the last time the Huskies won back-to-back games.

Here are five takeaways from the win.

Picking off the win

The Huskies led 20-13 in the fourth quarter with Ohio starting a drive. But Cyrus McGarrell intercepted a deep Kurtis Rourke pass and returned it 36 yards. The Huskies got an extra 15 on a facemask, setting them up on the Ohio 20.

They couldn’t get into the end zone, but they did get a 32-yard field goal by Kanon Woodill, his third of the game, to push the lead to two scores with 8:09 left.

On the next drive, Nate Valcarcel got a pass breakup with a hard hit causing a drop. On the next play, he picked off an errant Rourke pass. The Huskies started again at the Ohio 20, went for a fourth down pass and didn’t convert.

But the defense stepped up again, with JaVaughn Byrd wrestling the ball away from Miles Cross for the interception on the third straight drive.

Taking control

Down 10-7 at halftime, the Huskies took the lead for the first time since the first quarter with a big third quarter. They held the Bobcats to a three-and-out on the first drive of the half, then took a 14-13 lead on a 58-yard pass from Rocky Lombardi to Grayson Barnes. The Bobcats bit on a fake run to Antario Brown, leaving Barnes completely uncovered. After he caught the lob from Lombardi he was taking off with no one else around.

The NIU defense held again - Ohio had 37 third-quarter yards after 188 in the first half - then added on a 31-yard field goal by Woodill. Lombardi found Davis Patterson on a third-and-8, then later on the drive ran for 15 yards on a draw on third-and-5, setting up the kick and the 17-13 lead after three.

Wildcat with a wrinkle

The Huskies got on the board first with a seven-play, 85-yard drive that utilized a lot of different looks in the run game for success.

The Wildcat for NIU usually involves Brown lined up in the backfield and taking a direct snap. But on this drive, the first time they ran the Wildcat, Lombardi started under center then split out wide. The Huskies quick-snapped and Brown got three yards on third-and-1.

Later, Brown tried a Wildcat handoff to Trayvon Rudolph on a sweep, but Rudolph bobbled well behind the line of scrimmage. He still collected the ball and ran for a gain. On the next play, Gavin Williams broke off a 53-yard touchdown on a straight running play for the 7-0 lead.

Third down success

Ohio was great on third down in the first half, and it was not more evident than on a scoring drive as time expired in the second quarter. Starting with just more than 6 minutes left in the half, the Bobcats converted a third-and-8, third-and-7 and third-and - to control the clock and deny the Huskies a chance to get the ball back.

The Huskies finally held on third down on a third-and-5 in the final minute. Gianni Spetic capped the 16-play, 69-yard, 6-minute drive with a 37-yard field goal and a 13-7 lead at the break.

Ohio finished the game 9 of 15 on third down and 7 of 10 in the first half.

Ohio owns the ball

The Bobcats dominated first-half time of possession behind a couple of long scoring drives. In addition to the 6:00 drive at the end of the second quarter, the Bobcats had two other drives of more than 5 minutes in the first half, all resulting in points.

After the Huskies went up 7-0, Ohio had a 10-play, 51-yard drive that ate 5:10 and ended with a field goal. After a three-and-out, Ohio went 60 yards in 13 plays, taking 7:07 off the clock and going up 10-7. NIU got its next drive to midfield but had to punt, setting up the Bobcats’ final drive of the half.

NIU flipped the script and ended up winning the possession battle for the game.